#53 Robert McCorquodale: What Can ESG Investors Do to Respect Human Rights

Investors shouldn't just take companies' word for what they're doing; they should investigate what the companies are actually doing regarding human rights.

‍

This week, Richard Howitt welcomes Robert McCorquodale, professor of international law and human rights and current chair of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, to discuss their report presented last month to the 56th Human Rights Council on investor responsibility to respect human rights.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

That ESG is not the same as human rights: there must be a systematic integration or the consideration of human rights in relation to ESG
How investors should and can prevent 'rightswashing'
A call for the EU to look again in two years at including investment in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
How soft law is important but what ultimately makes a concrete difference is changing hard law

Resources:

“So what investors can do is actually do human rights due diligence when they're deciding to invest in a particular company. Find out what actually is that company doing, not just what they're saying they're doing. When I speak to companies who are being asked these questions by investors, they often say “they're not even asking us the right questions.” They can ask a question such as how many women are there employed in your workforce? The answer could be more than 50% and you get a tick that says nothing about actually what is the discrimination, harassment, pay or anything about women.”

Robert McCorquodale in Frankly Speaking